Ya’ll ready to mosey? Deck yourself out in a big ‘ol hat and boots, then ride into the sunset with your faithful horse backpack!
We read Are you a Horse? by Andy Rash (Arthur A. Levine Books, 2009). It’s Roy’s birthday and his buds give him an awesome present…a saddle! Now Roy just needs to find a horse. Thus begins his epic journey of asking every single living (and even not living) thing if it’s a horse. From cacti to sloths, Roy strikes out until…he meets a creature who fits the description exactly. Roy finally gets to enjoy that horseback ride, but as the hilarious final page reveals, it’s not quite what the reader expects!
You’ll need:
- 1 large tissue box
- Poster board
- A selection of construction paper
- Scissors, tape, and glue for construction
- Markers for decorating
We’ll start with the hat! Trace a cowboy hat on poster board, making sure to leave the brim extra wide, as you’ll need to cut a slit in it later. Our hats were 9.75″ tall and 16.75″ long. The kids decorated them with markers, construction paper, and self-adhesive foam. To wear the hat, cut a slit in the brim that’s wide enough to slide onto your head:
Now for the boots! Trace the cowboy boot template on poster board, then decorate. Again, we offered markers and self-adhesive foam, but the champion of this rodeo was rickrack ribbon. It looked awesome.
To wear the boot, attach a strip of poster board to the back of the boot, then loop it around your ankle and secure with tape.
Finally, the horse backpack! It’s the same as the robot backpack we made here. Cut four, 1.5″ slits in a box, then use scissors to slightly enlarge the slits (it makes it easier to slide the straps through in the next step):
Thread two, 1″ x 28″ poster board straps through the slits like so:
Curl the straps over your shoulders, adjust them, and secure with staples. Put pieces of masking tape over the staples (thus avoiding staple scratches or clothing snags). You can tie an (optional) piece of string, ribbon, or yarn around both straps to keep them from sliding off your shoulders if you like.
Finally, decorate your box like a horse! Katie crafted the head and legs with with poster board, then used markers, self-adhesive foam, and construction paper to make this prancing pinto…
When your project is done, suit up, saddle up, and riiiiiide partner!
We read One Witch, written by Laura Leuck, and illustrated by S.D. Schindler (Walker & Company, 2003). A witch visits her ten sets of (unusual) friends to gather ingredients for the ultimate brew. She cooks it up, sends out invitations via bat, and a massive party ensues – including a special bowl for you! This is a fantastic counting book, plus a real family favorite. My kids asked me to read this book to them year round!
As you can see, it’s a box within a box. The left side of the kitchen is the unfolding countertop/secret storage area, the the right side is the fireplace for the cauldron (which we stoked with brown poster board logs and red 
The issue, of course, is you have a big hole in the floor of your kitchen. No problem! Just glue or tape a piece of poster board over the hole (shown here in yellow):
To make the unfolding countertop/secret storage space, flip a small tissue box, cut the bottom to make a hinged lid, cut the box down to the proper height, then attach it inside the large box. Cut the V-shaped hearth door and you’re set!
The shelves along the back of the kitchen are basic poster board pockets. Cut and color the various bottles in your template to stock your kitchen:
In the secret storage are little plastic sample cups for mixing, snippets of drinking straws, plus (optional) ingredient bottles repurposed from old-school film canisters. We filled ours with